The Holy Spirit reminded us of emails that we released eight years ago in the weeks following the 2008 Presidential election. At that time, as it is in this time, Christians were divided and confused about what to do in perilous times.
Last week, we received the highest number of responses to our weekly e-newsletter, than in any previous edition. That tells us that many hearts were stirred regarding the issue of knowing who their true King is. We stand corrected in one of our observations from last week. This is not so much a time of DIVIDING the Body of Christ, as it is a time of DISCERNING the Body of Christ. Now we will discover who understands what it means to be a part of the Body of Christ, and who simply holds a few religious beliefs.
Change has come to America. In my humble view, we are no longer one nation under God. We have become many nations, bowing to many gods. With that altered view of where our nation truly stands, we can still prepare ourselves to go forth anyway, into this changed world as ONE Body to do God's will.
The real revelation of this so-called “New America” is that the term Christian does not mean the same thing to every American. Today, there are many definitions of that word. The main issue is that many citizens of our nation have made it clear, even before the election, that they don’t want God, His Word, His ways, or His influence in their lives.
So how do we proceed from this moment on? Carol and I believe that God has appointed this moment to be part of the history of this nation, but it is for reasons that are known only to Him and His sovereign will. As a result, there is a new level of dependence upon God that has developed in our hearts.
Over the last two weeks we've been talking about what it takes to live in the eye of the hurricane. First we discussed the Peace of God and then we encouraged you to keep the unity of the Spirit.
This week we want to conclude this discussion with the final portion of our focus scripture, Colossians 3:16, which tells us:
...Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
That's a lot of scripture to attempt to discuss, so we'll sum it up with this: Let the Word of God really live in you. We're not going to be able to navigate in the eye of the storm if we don't recognize the voice and will of God. The only way to consistently recognize God's voice and will is to know God's Word. We can't truly stay in step with Him if we don't live in His Word and let His Word live in us.
As we read this verse it occurred to us that we can always teach and admonish one another, but the question is, are we teaching from the wisdom that comes from the Word of God?
James 3:15 declares that there is a wisdom that does not descend from above, but it is earthly, sensual and demonic.
If we operate in the kind of wisdom that comes from natural thinking, our own feelings, or even from the realm of the demonic, we will find ourselves in the midst of the destructive storm of division, instead of moving in the eye of the storm, in the peace of God.
In fact, this same Bible passage goes on to say:
...the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
Wow! Isn't this a great thing to know?
Finally, we are encouraged to literally sing the Word of God. God understands something about us in that the Word is able to get anchored in our spirit when we sing it. We all know how quickly we memorized commercials and theme songs to TV shows. That's because we sang them to ourselves and those songs became a part of our thinking and behavior. How much more will happen in us if we SING the realities of the Word of God?
So let the Word of God LIVE in you!
We believe God's Word will become an internal compass with which we can navigate in the eye of the storm. No matter how difficult the future may be for the world around us, we will prevail and prosper in the purpose of God because His Word is alive within us.
This e-newsletter was originally written in November of 2008 and it still applies to us today.
For the least of these,
Chris and Carol Green (D.Hon.Causa)
